Moscow - Russia could respond to travel bans and asset freezes recently imposed by Australia on a number of Russian officials by introducing its own sanctions against Australia, the Izvestia newspaper reported on Friday, citing the Russian president's press secretary Dmitry Peskov.
“The mutuality principle remains valid for these matters,” Peskov told the newspaper.
The latest developments should not affect Russia’s work within the G20, he said.
This autumn, the Australian city of Brisbane is expected to host a G20 summit, to be preceded by a G20 business summit there in July, an event in which representatives of Russian companies usually take part, the newspaper said.
However, Russia has not yet received confirmation of the latest sanctions from the Australian authorities, Peskov said.
“As for the extent of their effect on participation in international formats, I do not think that there is clarity in these issues today,” he said.
A Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman, for his part, confirmed in an interview with Izvestia that similar measures could be taken in relation to Australia in response to its sanctions, which were announced by the Australian Foreign Ministry on June 19, according to the newspaper.
The Australian authorities imposed travel bans and asset freezes on 50 Russian citizens and 11 companies that, the Australian government believes, are involved in “the threat to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine,” Izvestia said.
Australia’s sanctions list includes Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko, State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin, Russian presidential chief-of-staff Sergei Ivanov, his two first deputies Vyacheslav Volodin and Alexei Gromov, Deputy Prime Ministers Dmitry Rogozin and Dmitry Kozak, presidential aides Vladislav Surkov, Vladimir Kozhin and Andrei Fursenko, presidential adviser Sergei Glaziyev, as well as Russian MPs Yelena Mizulina and Alexei Pushkov.
These sanctions also apply to the leadership of Crimea, as well as businessmen Yury Kovalchuk, Arkady Rotenberg, Boris Rotenberg and Gennady Timchenko, according to Izvestia.
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